Malloy did not address the substance of their complaints during his presss conference. But he told reporters he is "in absolute in disagreement" with the memo.

Instead of responding to the PURA commissioners' argument that having a court-like regulatory agency under an administrative agency has been a failure, Malloy framed the debate differently. He suggested that the critics of the current arrangement are grumbling about government consolidation because it diminishes their own power.

"I think anyone could have made that argument in any consolidation we've effected in the past,'' Malloy said. "We're not going to go about recreating a Connecticut government the likes of which I inherited, we are about finding efficiencies."

Malloy said there are far fewer state employees today than their were when he took office in 2011. "I know that sometimes stretches people to what they think are their limits. We need to stretch people to their limits."If there are commissioners who find such efforts objectionable, "they can always act on it,'' Malloy said. "They could resign."